University of Galway History Seminar: The Art of Urban Life: Painting Dublin, 1886-1949 

University of Galway History Seminar

Dr Kathryn Milligan 

(University College Dublin)

The Art of Urban Life: Painting Dublin, 1886-1949

Abstract

A well-established theme in the history of art, the depiction of the city has persistently adapted its form to reflect the concerns of the time and culture in which it was created. While scholarship on the history of Irish art has emphasised the important role of the rural and seaboard landscape, the representation of the city was an important strand in fine art produced in Ireland through the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. To date, however, the visual representation of the Irish city has be little discussed or considered within the broader field of Irish Studies, despite the proliferation of texts and articles on the city in literature, poetry and drama, and the ever-increasing role of Irish urban history, whether in terms of political, social, or architectural history. Drawing attention to a rich archive of paintings, sketches and prints created by artists in Ireland through the late nineteenth- and early-twentieth centuries, this paper will explore the visual representation of Dublin, demonstrating how depictions of the city were shaped by historical and social change in Ireland.

Biography

Kathryn Milligan is an art historian specialising in nineteenth and twentieth century Irish art. Her current research interests range from a study of exhibition cultures in nineteenth-century Irish cities to urban painting by Irish artists at home and abroad.  Since finishing her PhD in 2015, Kathryn has held positions at the National Gallery of Ireland, the UCD School of Art History and Cultural Policy, and was the BARS/BAVS Nineteenth-Century Matters Fellow affiliated with the School of Literature and Languages, University of Surrey, 2019-20. She is currently based in the Special Collections Unit at UCD Library. Kathryn’s monograph, Painting Dublin, 1886 – 1949 was first published by Manchester University Press in 2020, and in 2021 received an Honorable Mention in the ACIS Michael J Durkan Prize for Books on Language and Culture.

Registration

This is a hybrid event. The paper will be delivered, in-person, in Room G010, Hardiman Research Building, University of Galway and streamed simultaneously on Zoom: https://nuigalway-ie.zoom.us/j/95641793838.

To attend via Zoom, please register at: https://forms.office.com/e/xPPchPGSGu

This talk is part of the University of Galway History Seminar series.